Willamette Weekend: 18 Things to Do and See in Portland May 29-31

FRIDAY, MAY 29

Get Out of Town

[EVERYTHING] It's sunny, people. Go have fun out there. If you need some ideas, check out our flashy new outdoor guide to the world around Mt. Hood, out this week in select newspaper boxes.

Shy Girls

[SLOW JAMZ] Dan Vidmar's sultry R&B act has just kept getting bigger since topping our Best New Band poll in 2013. His recent 4WZ mixtape drapes his smooth, bedside jams in a linen of modern soul, downtempo pop and '90s Top 40. Ooooh, baby. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 284-8686. 9 pm. $15 advance, $18 day of show. All ages. 

Ana Sia 

[ELECTRONIC] It's no surprise that L.A. DJ Ana Sia turns to cooking Malaysian rendang curry when she's not making music: Her sets cross huge swaths of music, from techno to bass to dubstep, and the flavors don't compete—they complement. Sia makes sure her crates, along with the bill, always reflect the particular scene where she's DJing. Hawthorne Theater,1507 SE César E. Chávez Blvd., With Benny Rox, Tyler Tastemaker, Ben Tactic and SPF 666, 9pm, $12 advance, $15 day of show. 21+

Refused, White Lung, Don't

[REFUSED ARE F-ING ALIVE] When Refused vocalist Dennis Lyxzén shouts, "Nothing has changed!" on "Elektra," the lead single from Freedom, the group's first album since 1998's epochal The Shape of Punk to Come, the fervor with which he barks the revived Swedish post-hardcore legend's adopted mantra makes one thing immediately clear: This is not a victory lap to be taken lightly. Hardcore punk has folded on itself several times over in its absence, but we're certainly all the better for the 17-year buildup that's now being uncorked on the legions of Warped Tour also-rans who never even came close. The shape of punk Refused prophesied has arrived. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. 9 pm. Sold out. 21+.

Festival of Flowers 

[IN BLOOM] Local design studio Place is making 20,000 flowers look like coffee and doughnuts for this year's "Doughnut Trip" design on the bricks. Buckman Marimba Ensemble will add another sense to the sight-smell mix with an afternoon kickoff concert. Pioneer Courthouse Square, 701 SW 6th Ave., thesquarepdx.org. Noon. Free. All ages.

Storefront Revue: The Babes are Back

[THEATER] Like Storefront Theater, the notorious 1970s-’90s Portland theater that inspired it, this play is a constant, rainbow-hued provocation. The play is best as a bedazzled “greatest hits” production. Even through a black-lit strip tease and the ditty “Eat Your Fucking Cornflakes,” Storefront Revue never lets us forget its history. Sanctuary at Sandy Plaza, 1785 NE Sandy Blvd., 239-5919. 7:30 pm $15.

The Nicole Glover Quartet

[A BAND SUPREME] It's surprising that saxophonist Nicole Glover, who plays tenor with a breathy bop virtuosity, ever has time to sleep. The busy William Patterson grad, who has recorded with Esperanza Spalding and plays regularly with seemingly dozens of other local all-stars, plays tonight with her own band. This show, which features Glover and a three-member rhythm section comprising Portland's finest contemporary musicians—bassist Jonathan Lakey, drummer Alan Jones and pianist George Colligan—is a buildup for an album release in early July. Jimmy Mak's, 221 NW 10th Ave., 295-6542. 8 pm Friday, May 29. $15. 21+.

SATURDAY, MAY 30

Starlight Parade 

[MARCH OF THE STARS] "PeeDee," the googly-eyed personification of the PDX carpet selected grand marshal of the Rose Festival's annual nighttime parade, is either peak Portland or our jump-the-shark moment. At least Sir Mix-a-Lot is playing the after-party. Parade route through downtown, rosefestival.org. 8:30 pm start. After-party is at Tom McCall Waterfront Park, Southwest Naito Parkway and Yamhill Street, 7-11:45 pm. $10. rosefestival.org

Nuggets Night

[GARAGE-ROCK SPELUNKING] Some of Portland's best retro-minded, psychedelic garage-rock acts—including the Verner Pantons, the Pynnacles, the Satin Chaps, the Cool Whips and more—go really retro for this annual tribute to Lenny Kaye's classic collection of '60s one-hit wonders. Proceeds will benefit the Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 8 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. 21+.

Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)

[THEATER] Northwest Classical Theatre Company is going out with an extravagant bang. The company will be dissolving after this last production, a comic re-imagination of its usual Shakespearian source material. Bard scholar Constance Ledbelly falls headfirst into her trash can, only to find it a rabbit hole into Shakespeare's plays. She encounters morbid Juliet, sexually-confused Romeo and a whole folio of comic edits in this directorial first from NWCTC actress Brenan Dwyer, who also created the online sketch-comedy show Potty Talk. Northwest Classical Theatre Company, 2110 SE 10th Ave., 971-244-3740. 7:30 pm. $22.

Alchemist Burnside Reunion Dinner

[DINNER SERIES] Ronnie Vance, the original chef at Burnside Brewing, is reuniting with Burnside brewer Jason McAdams for a six-course beer-pairing prix-fixe to kick off a new Alchemist collaboration dinner series at Lightning Will bar, in the former Blitz 21 space. Call for tickets. Lightning Will, 305 NW 21st Ave., 327-8203. 6 pm. $50.

Everything Is Festival: Pajama Jammy Jam, featuring Kid 'n Play, Mix Master Mike

[THROWBACK HIP-HOP] Like most kids my age—including Alicia Keys, who recently booked the duo for her own Pajama Jammy Jam-themed birthday party—I grew up idolizing Kid 'n Play. They had the coolest clothes, the sickest dance moves and, most importantly, the best hair of anyone in pop culture. They rapped all right, too, and for all the flak they took for bringing hip-hop's soft 'n' cuddly side to mainstream America, breakdancing and turntablism were both central to their stick. Star Theater, 13 NW 6th Ave. 9 pm. $15. 21+.

The Mother Hips, PWRHAUS

[SAN FRANCISCO STALWARTS] The Mother Hips have never been the kind of band to break big, even if they were once on Rick Rubin's American Recordings. The outfit has issued album after album of classic boogie rock, occasionally splicing its countrified leanings with big, Zeppelin-esque riffs and ebbing waves of '60s psychedelia. Sadly, the Hips' latest LP, Chronicle Man, is a collection of unreleased tracks culled from a '90s recording session, rendering it a set that, while raucous, is fit only for the faithful. There are gems—see "Desert Song" and "Rich Little Girl"—but for the uninitiated, this is hardly an appropriate introduction. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. 9 pm. $16. 21+.

SUNDAY, MAY 31

Miami Horror 

[NU DISCO] The Australian electro-pop group's mostly excellent new album, All Possible Futures, is a festival-ready dance record teeming with cotton-candy synths, max-velocity disco rhythms and, most importantly, a lucid sense of self-awareness. Because why can't the sober kids in the EDM tent have fun, too? Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., 239-7639. 8 pm. $13 advance, $16 day of show day of show. 21+. 

The Liar

[THEATER] Artists Repertory Theater is bringing yet another David Ives rewrite of yet another 17th-century social satire to Portland's theater scene. It stars a playbill full of Artists Rep resident actors, and Ives (All in the Timing, Venus in Fur) is known for quippy verse, so that should keep you perked, even if you have already seen this season's many stagings of parlor scandals and Ives plays. Artists Repertory Theatre, 1515 SW Morrison St., 241-1278. 2 pm and 7:30 pm. $25.

She is King

[THEATER] Billie Jean King, the tennis star known for smashing the sports glass ceiling in the 1970s and the 2001 battle-of-the-sexes docudrama When Billie Beat Bobby, put her seal of approval on this multimedia show from Boom Arts. The production recreates King's TV interviews from the '70s with live acting, retro video replays and some potted plants that Boom is perplexingly excited about. Post-show talks throughout the run will host local Title IX educators, Portland State professors, Lindsay Schnell from Sports Illustrated and Sarah Mirk of Bitch Media. CoHo Theater, 2257 NW Raleigh St., 220-2646. 7:30 pm. $25-$35.

Ecliptic Beer Mile

[BEER] In a new annual tradition, Ecliptic is hosting a mile-long road run that begins and ends with a beer at Ecliptic. Sign-up includes T-shirt and two beers. Register at onemilebeerrun.com. Ecliptic Brewing, 825 N Cook St., 265-8002. 9 am. $32.25.

What We Do in the Shadows

[MOVIE] The last thing pop culture needs is another vampire flick. The second-to-last is more reality TV. Leave it to a pack of kiwis—including Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords fame—to give us both and somehow make vampires and reality TV feel fresh. R. Cinema 21, 616 NW 21st Ave. 223-4515. 2:30 pm and 8:45 pm. $8.50.

WWeek 2015